The charter-school pioneer, who was a state Democratic lawmaker at the time, spoke during the annual convention of the Utah Association of Public Charter Schools in Provo, which on Monday and Tuesday celebrated the 15th anniversary of Utah’s charter school law. The conference allowed some 400 people to hone up on skills as well as honor excellence, such as George Washington Academy in St. George being awarded 2013 Charter School of the Year.

“They are a fantastic school which focuses on building a strong foundation,” Chris Bleak, the association president, said. “They focus the majority of instruction time on math and language arts but as part of the Core Knowledge curriculum, weekly lesson plans include time for art, music, social studies, science and physical education.”

More and more students are attending charter schools in Utah, skyrocketing enrollment over the past decade from 1,526 students in 2002 to a peak of 50,785 youngsters this school year. That’s a little more than 8 percent of K-12 Utah students.

Charters are public schools but have more leeway in how they hire staff or design curriculum than traditional public schools. For that reason, many charter schools have been able to explore new academic territory. Films about the education movement, such as “Waiting for Superman” and “The Lottery,” helped spark the debate over the merits of the independent schools and how they have changed American education.

That’s exactly what charters were designed to do 20 years ago, said Reichott Junge.

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